Tag: cinnamon

Last year was we had a beautiful summer but as much as I love the summer I hate the way cooking heats up the whole house, so I set out to find and/or create simple easy healthy no cook recipes for the summer months. Simple? Easy? Healthy? No Cook? And Tasty? Yup, I won’t settle for anything less on my blog. If it’s not tasty why bother making it. I’ve read so many recipes on chia pudding and how good it is for you but most were with nut milk. I didn’t have any of the ingredients around except the chia seeds. That said, I did notice the 5:1 ratio of liquid to seeds. So I thought, since I’ve got some left over apple juice I’d give that a try. It turned out delicious and it was so simple. If you can stir you can make it and a half cup makes a “stick with you” breakfast cup. It’s a great make ahead dish to grab when you’re in a hurry, just put it in little ½ cup jelly jars, cover and store in the fridge.

Apple Pie Chia Seed Pudding

INGREDIENTS:

1 ¼ cups apple Juice (I make my own and preserve it in mason jars)

¼ organic chia seeds

2 tablespoons real maple syrup

½ teaspoon organic ground cinnamon

½ cup of applesauce or chopped apples or walnuts (optional) whatever you like

Put the apple juice, chia seeds, maple syrup and cinnamon into a medium bowl and stir until there are no clumps. Cover and put in fridge overnight. Stir in optional fruit and/or nuts. Serve with maple whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together all dry ingredients including baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add the remaining wet ingredients and mix well. Let the batter rest while you preheat (medium heat) a griddle or skillet. When the griddle is hot, spray it with cooking spray or brush it with oil. Stir batter between cooking pancakes. Pour the batter by 1/3 cupful’s onto hot griddle/skillet. The pancake will start to form little bubbles as it cooks, but won’t rise as much as conventional pancakes. Cook for about 3 minutes, then flip over and cook the other side for 2 – 3 minutes more. Brush more oil onto the griddle/skillet between cooking pancakes or they will stick to the pan.

Recently, after hearing about the health benefits of a gluten free diet my husband decided to try it for a week to see if it would improve how he felt. after a week of eliminating or nearly eliminating gluten from his diet he said most of his aches, pains and fatigue had been alleviated. He also, felt a little discouraged that it was so difficult to find tasty gluten free foods and was concerned about the expense. Well, I took that as a challenge. Healthy does not have to be expensive or difficult. Simple foods should be simple to prepare and simple to obtain. So as I embark on Our Gluten Free or Near Gluten Free journey I will post my discoveries.

Discovery #1

Flavor does not have to be compromised!

Gluten Free Apple Crisp Dessert

From the Kitchen of Donna Yelle

(This is my new “go to” recipe if I have apples that are getting old and need to be used quickly)

Ingredients

5 medium apples, peeled, cored and chopped (about 4 cups)

1/2 cup applesause

dash lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar/stevia combination

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Topping

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup gluten free oat flour

1/2 cup gluten free old fashioned oats

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch sea salt

3 tbsp butter (room temp)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease a 9 × 9 baking dish.

Put apples and applesauce in a large bowl and toss with lemon juice. Mix in granulated sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon.

For most of us the holidays are the most wonderful time of the year. Warm cheerful faces. Good will toward our fellow man. Family and Friends sharing a meal prepared with love. Children filled with giddy anticipation. These are the things we are thankful for. But what to do with all those leftovers. Personally, I like to invite the less fortunate to share in our family warmth. Sharing good food and fellowship. There are so many ways to use all those leftovers but sadly the sweet potato seems to be left out of the creative process of making the old into something new and delightful. This started me thinking of ways to truly use up ALL of those leftovers, including the sweet potato.

The following recipe is good for Mini loaves of sweet potato pineapple bread for gift giving or breakfast muffins.

Occasionally, folks will see me cook and be amazed that I seem to throw together ingredients together randomly and make something scrumptious. My secret? Making recipes with as few ingredients as possible and developing base recipes that can be adapted with 1 or 2 minor changes or additions. For instance, remembering my sourdough bread recipe is simple, it has flour, water, salt and sugar. It’s kind of hard to forget any of those ingredients. I’ve been experimenting with sourdough and trying to combine it with my love of breakfast muffins and healthier alternatives. If this statement sounds like I’m not willing to compromise on taste, health or ease of preparation, that’s because I’m not. By using “good” ingredients the end result is a rich and robust flavor. That said, I do use “sugar” in my recipes. Is sugar bad for you? My personal opinion is “yes” sugar standing on it’s own merit is probably a bad choice but adding fiber to slow the uptake helps make it not as bad. Using a sweetener that has vitamins like honey is better because honey had nutrients. I use sugar in my recipes but cut the amount and substitute part of the sugar with Stevia to reduce the calories.

This recipe is a base sourdough muffin recipe with different adaptions. Run with it and explore the possibilities. Let me know what combination you try!!! As I come up with different variation of this basic muffin recipe I will add notes to the bottom of this post.

Sourdough Berry Muffins

Ingredients:

1 organic egg

1 teaspoon organic vanilla

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup grapeseed oil or other neutral flavored oil

1/4 cup buttermilk or kefir or sour cream

1 cup unfed sourdough starter

2/3 cup unbleached flour

1/3 cup whole wheat flour or bran flour if you are using raisins as fruit

*Note: I tried a new twist on these today. I substituted 2 large mashed bananas and 3/4 Cup chopped walnuts for the berries and added 1/3 cup additional flour to make up for the extra moisture. Presto … Banana Nut Muffins. It yielded a bit more than a dozen muffins but I just put the extra batter in a greased and floured mini loaf pan and made a cute little miniature banana bread.

additional note: I modified this recipe again to make corn muffins by ommitting the fruit 1/4 cup sugar and vanillia and nuts and substituting the 1/3 Cup of Whole Wheat flour with 2/3 Cup Yellow cornmeal. Instead of greasing and flouring the muffin pans I only greased them. What a great side to go with a hot bowl of chili on a brisk Autumn Day! Enjoy!

additional note: Well, we’ve had our first hard frost and the winter apples are now ready. I peeled, diced, cooked and cooled about a cup of Winesap apples into a lumpy applesauce. I used this in place of the fruit and added 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and a teaspoon of organic cinnamon. Once I filled the muffin tins I sprinkled the tops with a finely chopped walnut, brown sugar and cinnamon mixture and then baked them. I must say these are the best breakfast muffins EVER!